


What Once Was

by Aria_Verde



Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: Gen, Mentions of other characters - Freeform, One Shot, but nothing not seen on the internet, some light swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-10
Updated: 2019-03-10
Packaged: 2019-11-15 06:29:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,484
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18068333
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aria_Verde/pseuds/Aria_Verde
Summary: On an expedition through the Ghost Zone, the Golden Trio stumble upon more ruins. They soon realize that these aren’t just any old ghost ruins, however.





	What Once Was

**Author's Note:**

> I’ve actually had this idea in my head for years and just never bothered to work on it. Not the best I think I could've done, but it was either post this or never post it at all, so yeah. 
> 
> Might do a bit more with this if I decide to later. Otherwise, assume this is a oneshot. This work did not have a beta, so if you spot any mistakes, let me know and I'll fix it!

Tucker continued to snap photos of notable landmarks as the Specter Speeder cruised by “Looks like we’re getting closer to whatever ruin these chunks came from.”

It was a bit like following a trail, but instead of bread crumbs or paper, they were following large clusters of rubble that grew in number and individual size as they got closer to the source. Most of the human public would probably be surprised that such trails - and consequently, ruins - weren’t more common. With the large pieces of land that filled the Zone at seemingly random intervals, abandoned or destroyed homes, towns, and realms should be more common. This wasn’t the case though, leaving most of the large rocks’ origins a mystery. In fact, since most denizens of the Zone stayed in their lair, such ruins were rather rare since the ghosts bold enough to live in the “common area” also tended to be strong enough to defend their territory and did so with zeal.

“I hope so. Though, I wonder how much will be left considering how much we’ve seen already,” Danny continued to roughly sketch the area around them. 

Then, the Speeder shook and a chill went over the trio. Alarms began to blaze as a large cluster of debris spontaneously appeared before them. Sam expertly began to flip select switches before pulling up on the controls, dodging the rock as they passed overhead. 

She whistled when looked ahead, “A lot of it, if that’s our ruin.”

A floating city sprawled before them, skeletal and decaying in the sickly green of the Ghost Zone. Giant chunks of the city’s outskirts had drifted slightly from the original landmass they were attached to, and some were missing altogether making it seem like some creature had bitten into the realm. Dead vegetation darkened the beige color of what must have been the streets, homes, and parks of the civilization that dwelled here. A large temple or castle stood at the heart of the city, its windows long shattered. At the top a brightly glowing crystal structure floated between three prongs. 

Danny took in the sight before them and then looked back, studying the bluish barrier they were traveling away from, “It’s protected. You can’t see it from afar unless you get close enough.”

“I wonder if I can replicate that,” Tucker pressed his face against the glass as he tried to study the barrier, “or your parents. Imagine if the Speeder had that. Implement that and a way to silence the boosters, and you got yourself a nifty stealth vehicle.”

“We can check it out later. For now, let’s not give them too many new ideas.” Danny shuddered, “I don’t want to know what ideas they’ll come back with from that convention of theirs. It’s going to be hell for the next few weeks. Actually, not weeks. Months.”

Tucker placed a hand on Danny’s shoulder, face grim, “It can’t be worse than the ecto-pudding machine. Nothing can be worse than that.”

With an equally grim face, Danny replied, “I know Tuck. I know.”

“It’s also possible Bad Luck Tuck just cursed you into experiencing something worse than the Ecto-Pudding machine,” Sam shot a wicked grin to the paling boys.

“Why do you do this Sam?”

“It’s my way of showing affection by destroying your hopes of the world. Now get the suits. We’re landing.”

Tuck retrieved Sam’s and his suits while Danny transformed, strapped a radio to his belt, and phased outside, surveying the area cautiously as he waited for the other two. There was a strange serene quality to the environment. 

“And we are good to go!” Tucker’s voice emitted from the radio as the two stepped out of the Speeder.

Sam had parked relatively close to the temple, but far enough away so that it wouldn’t be close if it collapsed. The trio started to walk towards the building, taking the time to explore the smaller ones as they passed. 

“I think this one was a grocery store!” Tucker called from one, “There’s shelves and I think these were refrigerators?” 

Danny wandered into that one and found Tucker rummaging behind what looked like a counter. His head popped up and he grinned at Danny, “Dude, look at this!” He reached down and brought up an open box filled with... something. Carefully, the ghost boy picked one up and looked it over. It was... a lollipop?

“There’s other stuff around, too.” Tucker picked one of the lollipops up and started to rub the shiny wrapping, “Although, most of it is trash. Or at least it looks like trash.” He removed the foil to reveal the glossy red candy, “Think it’s still good?”

“I don’t know. Lollipops last, what, years in our world?” Danny unwrapped his own. It was green instead of red, “It might be good to eat, but not taste good, you know?”

Tucker did his best to rewrap his own before shoving it in a small bag he pulled from his pocket, “I can try it later. Guess that proves this place had kids, though, huh? I wonder what else these guys ate.”

A knock came from the entrance and they both looked over to see Sam. She had an interested look in her eye, “I found a bookstore. There were a couple intact, so we can study those when we get back.” 

“Let’s hope they’re in a language we have on record.” Danny snorted. 

“Let’s.” With that, the trio left the grocery store. 

They didn’t get too much farther down the road before a slight movement caught Danny’s eye coming from a different, multi-story building. He approached carefully, peering in through the window he saw the movement coming from before relaxing. 

A small orb of sorts wobbled continuously in a circle, slow and methodical. Occasionally, it would pause before jumping about two feet into the air, making no sound when it landed. It was the same beige color as the rest of the stonework, but glowing blue lines flickered on the surface. 

“Hey Tuck! I think I found some kind of robot!” Danny called before floating inside through the nearby door. The robot-orb-thing didn’t stop once in its cycle of wobbling and jumping. 

“Where!?” Tucker ran into the room, eyes locking on the orb. He crouched down and studied its movements for a little, ignoring Sam as she followed them into the room. 

Eventually, he reached over and picked it up. A small sound came from it as the orb stopped glowing entirely, “Huh. It doesn’t do much, does it?” He shrugged before putting it into his bag, “I’m definitely taking this with me though. Anything else interesting in here?”

Danny called from upstairs, “There’s a few different rooms up here. I found another book.” There was a moment of silence, “One of them is a kid’s room. Bunch of toys that are absolutely wrecked. Nothing else of note, though.”

“That’s probably what the orb is,” Sam said as Danny walked down the stairs, “but it’s weird how it looks so similar to what the city is made of. Think the whole town was once a computer or something?”

“It’s possible. We already have the idea of smart cities, so if some ancient ghost civilization beat us to actually building one, I wouldn’t be surprised.” Tucker’s eyes shone brilliantly, “Makes me wonder what this place could do in its prime if that’s the case.”

“If this place is some giant computer, I wonder what happened to cause the civilization to fall.” Danny said as he handed the book to Sam, “With advances like that, it wouldn’t be easy to fight let alone take over.”

“No, it wouldn’t have been.” Tucker agreed. 

The trio continued until eventually they were standing at the broken double doors that once might’ve looked proud and intimidating but were depressingly shattered upon the floor. Holes in the walls and ceiling of the temple allowed light to illuminate the interior, showing them what remained of the murals in the hall. Pillars stood on either side of the walkway that marked the center of the temple. 

At the other end of the walkway upon a raised platform was a throne, the top of which was missing. Behind that was an open doorway, which they took after a brief glance to one another. It lead to a room with a round floating crystal giving off a soft blue glow, eerily similar to the one on top of the building. Around it were panels and screens, all dark and inactive save for one directly in front of the small group. 

They walked up to it and Tucker took to the center. He experimentally pressed a couple buttons before some prompt appeared on the screen. With a frown he was about to choose one of the options, written in a language no one recognized, before Sam stopped him. She took the camera he was using before and set it to record before nodding at him to continue. Tucker smiled and pressed the button. 

There was a moment before a new window appeared showing a woman’s face. She wore armor or some kind and had her black hair pulled back into a braid. The camera shook from some unseen blow, but the woman only grimaced before she began to talk. Once again, no one could understand what she was saying. 

Tuckered purred, “Hellooo beautiful.” He was promptly smacked by Sam. 

Around her people ran, not panicked, simply busy. Some carried weapons of various kinds, others had different materials. However, none of these drew Danny’s attention. 

“...Not all of them are ghosts.”

Tucker and Sam looked at him. He pointed at the main woman, “She doesn’t have the ghostly aura. All ghosts have the aura. But see these people back here? These guys are ghosts for sure.”

They took a closer look as the video played, “Most of them are human-skinned, too,” Sam frowned. “That’s supposed to be a rare color, isn’t it? To have tan or black or white skin? It’s interesting how there are so many here.”

“Maybe they’re were more back then? Or this was where human-skinned ghosts originated from? Or maybe they just all gathered here cause they didn’t like being so isolated otherwise?” Sam said, a look of thought on her face.

“And how are there humans in this video? Ectoplasm is toxic to humans.”

“It might be the barrier.” Tucker said as he eyed the crystal in the center of the room, “If it keeps the ruins out of sight from a distance, it’s not that much of a stretch to imagine it could filter the air, too. But then whatever battle we see here resulted in that feature being disabled?”

“I guess. That just doesn’t seem-” Danny’s eyes went wide and judging from the gasp from Sam and the ‘holy shit’ from Tucker, he knew they saw it, too. 

In the background, a ghost had come flying into the room. 

He had then been engulfed in a pair of familiar looking rings and turned human before kneeling behind the woman. 

They watched as the two conversed before Tucker said, “He’s a halfa. He’s an honest to god halfa.”

But things got stranger as the man left and the woman started addressing the rest of the room. Everyone stopped to listen to whatever it was she was saying. Those who were flying lowered themselves to the floor and all tasks had been put on halt. They looked so grim and fearful. 

The woman paused, as if she was waiting for a reply. A moment later, five people rose their hand before stepping up, all of whom looked human. They kneeled and the woman began to speak again. When she was done, the others in the room made way, giving the five what looked like armor and weapons before standing aside. 

After a final nod to the woman, the five also transformed and left the building. 

The woman turned back to the camera, tears staining her face, but she otherwise looked determined. She continued to speak. 

The trio only watched as the rest of the video eventually cut out with the woman and the rest of the people in the room also transforming and leaving, looking ready to face whatever awaited them behind the doors. They didn’t say anything for a few minutes, merely processing the video as they stared at the screen, some new prompt displayed and waiting. 

It was Tucker who spoke first, “Holy mother of meat...”

“A halfa civilization...” Sam appeared dazed, “This place was a halfa civilization. Not only was it a half civilization, but they clearly had tech that we’re only now developing. If they were still around, who knows how powerful they would’ve been?”

“But its not around. It was destroyed.” 

The two looked over at Danny. On his knees he sat, hands gripping his arms. His eyes were downcast, but they could see the glistening of unshed tears in them. 

Sam walked over and sat by him, Tucker following suit. They hugged him as he began to cry, rubbing small circles on his back. 

None of them knew how long they were like that for, but eventually, they stood back up and Danny smiled. 

“Thanks.”

“It’s no problem, dude. This is extra heavy, now that we know exactly who lived here.” Tucker patted Danny’s right arm while Sam lightly punched the left.

“‘Sides, I don’t think you cry enough, if I’m being honest.” Sam put her arms behind her head, “It’s good to see you let something go for a change. In a good way, I mean.”

Danny chuckled, “I guess. I have to admit though, it’s... it’s actually a little uplifting. Being here and knowing.”

At his friends’ curious looks he continued, “It’s depressing to know that they’re gone, but... but they were here. Once. They would’ve known what I’ve been through. They would’ve known what it was like, being not ghost but also not human. And they lived long enough to make all of this,” he gestured to the crumbling buildings and withered plants, “even if it was all destroyed. There’s something soothing about knowing Vlad, Dani, and I weren’t the first, just as much as it’s crushing to know we’ll never experience what it was like to have a place that truly understands all the little details. It’s... bittersweet.”

Sam and Tucker remained quiet for a moment before Tucker smiled, “Well, I guess that’s true. Though, we might not understand fully, we always got your back.”

“Totally,” Sam gave Danny another hug.

“I know. And it means a lot.”

“It better. ‘Cause I’m pretty sure I spent all my fucks to give on this one trip, so you better have made them count.” The trio began to head back to the Speeder, “Let’s go home. I’m sure Jazz will like to hear about this, anyways.”

Danny grinned, “Yeah, I bet she will.”


End file.
